This is a fan’s personal view of AFC Bournemouth from the outside looking in. It reports on the daily official activities reported by the club and comments made by individual fans on social media and fanbase websites. Life as an AFCB fan is never dull. As a life-long supporter of the Cherries, it is the friendliness of the staff, fans and my enthusiasm for the club that inspired me to write this blog.

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Friday, 2 November 2018

Can Bournemouth make de Gea the busier keeper?

The goals against column for Manchester United is pretty poor for a club in the top 10 with 17 goals already passing David de Gea. United have had just one clean sheet compared to Bournemouth's four, and it's United's defence that should give Eddie Howe some optimism that there are weaknesses in Mourinho's team coming into this match.

Even David de Gea has found his form slip in recent months.

Bournemouth's difficulty for all their good play is that they don't make as many chances against the top teams. In the shots stats so far this season, AFCB only rank 12th highest with 120 shots compared to Man United's 133 in seventh. Bournemouth are not afraid to take long shots as we saw with Simon Francis against Fulham, but their ability to make good decisions around the box has often been the difference in whether they do test the keeper or not.

When Bournemouth do get inside the box they have a high strike rate. They rank third in scoring all 19 of their goals inside the oppositions' penalty area. De Gea has already been worked hard this season having made 34 saves, the eighth highest in the league. Begovic has only made 24 saves and AFCB are well down at 16th for saves made. What will also give Howe some joy is to see United down in 15th place for blocks, while AFCB are up at third on 43 blocks in their 10 games. It means de Gea doesn't get nearly the kind of protection that Begovic is currently enjoying.

Bournemouth will need to up their pass rate against Man United. AFCB have had 4224 passes compared to United's 5186. While the Cherries have enjoyed playing on the break and letting some teams come on to them in away games, this is unlikely to be the way Howe will want to see the game played against United at Dean Court.The Cherries can expect to have to deal with crosses. United have created the third highest at 222, whereas Bournemouth are down at 16th on 166 crosses. So Aké and Steve Cook may need their eyes focused on a few high balls.

Cherry Chimes' T-shirt competitionSend in your score predictions for AFCB v Man United to @CherryChimes on Twitter. We will pick a winner from those who send in the correct score before 10am on Saturday morning.

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